Adultery, miscegenation and lies in a naval family: black sailor John Webb 1785.

Black sailor, detail from The Death Of Nelson by Daniel Maclise.

Black sailor John Webb became the third party in the most public and virulent naval divorce story ever, in 1784-87.

   This is the first time in over two centuries that his reported experiences  have been examined.
  However, the couple for whom he worked  have been discussed in Margarette Lincoln’s Naval Wives and Mistresses, pp114-118.

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In racialized London and the Medway towns John Webb’s endlessly contradictory tales about whether or not he had had sex with a naval captain’s wife – and how willingly – involved him in great trauma in the Ecclesiastical Court and Doctor’s Commons.

  The impugned wife, Ann Inglefield, fought to prove she never had such an avid connection with the black servant.

   John Webb was usually referred to as the Black Slave, the Negro, the Black servant, the Boy, or the Black. People took to him for his open, free and innocent way of talking.

   Illiterate, he signed his name with an X. No-one drew a picture of him, or of Ann.
   Born around 1767 his origin is unknown. In one of the courts he was referred to as 'the Ethiopian', for no clear reason.  

Black RN cook: RMG 127866

   John was said to have been ‘taken’ (captured) from a Flag-of-Truce Spanish ship by Captain Affleck (which could have been Edmund or his brother Philip, both of whom served in the Caribbean, which is where they could have met Webb)

   As a captive John Webb had then been given work in a naval vessel. It wasn’t unusual. Non-British men were as much as ten per cent of some crews at that time. Hands were needed and black hands were acceptable for domestic work.

 
Then, redundant in May 1783, Webb was found domestic work with Captain John Nicholson Inglefield (1748-1828), Commander of the guard ship Scipio at Chatham. (Pictured).

   John was paid as if he was part of the crew. Unwaged, he also worked in the Inglefield home in Singlewell, Gravesend. 

  The mistress was Ann Smith, later Inglefield (1754-1834), a Greenwich woman who’d married Inglefield ten years earlier. Their children were Mary Ann, Lucretia, Miss, and Samuel.



John Webb’s trouble

The Inglefield’s legal case focused on John Inglefield’s allegations that, over a year, Ann had been soliciting ‘indecent familiarities’ with a Black servant, and even committed adultery with him on the Scipio, thus bringing shame onto Inglewood.

  The claims and counter-claims in pamphlets and newspapers varied. And the recorded court proceedings are very confusing, not least because some evidence was not brought into court.     
   There was never a real resolution:
~ The alleged cuckolder John Webb said that he hadn’t done it, but also that Inglefield had told him to do it because he, Inglefield, wanted to watch through a spyhole. Webb claimed he hadn’t wanted Ann Inglefield’s advances, but he also boasted about what they’d done together, to another servant.
~ Ann said she’d never done anything. Her servants said so too. They swore that ‘the Black had always treated her with Respect’. There had been no ‘joking and laughing with the Black, and not any nodding and bidding him not be familiar with his Mistress.’ By contrast John Inglefield said he had proof. The servants saw their master as jealous, a blusterer and a bully.
~ John Inglefield claimed at one point he’d found Webb and Ann in bed, though most of the discussion mentioned only a kiss. He also referred to an anonymous tip-off letter, but it never appeared in court. It was proven he lied, and yet he was given custody of the children.

Pressures on every side

The court cases went on for two years. Ann sought to clear her name. Her husband fought hard to shame her, justify himself, and, seemingly get away from a marriage that wasn’t financially rewarding enough.

   In that time John Webb was under two lots of pressure. 

~ Initially this was in Chatham in the naval world. Inglefield beat him much and allegedly made him so frightened that he gave false testimony about his relations with Ann, to please his master. Naval men who worked for Inglefield corroborated the adultery story.

~ Secondly, Ann’s civilian friends and mother in Blue Stile, Greenwich worked to bring Webb to London and get him to make a true statement. They even convinced him that Inglewood would trepan him.

Greenwich, where John Webb feared he
might be trepanned by Inglewood

Recanting

   Eventually Webb recanted his first claim, saying he hadn’t before realised the meaning of a legal oath. 

   He refused to give more evidence against Ann. ‘I do on my oath declare, declare that the said accusations are false, and that the said Ann Inglewood always behaved to me with the utmost decorum, nor were ever the least indecent familiarities between us.’

   In London Webb later declared ‘that the Reason he swore his Mistress ever took improper Liberties with him, or he with her, was because Captain Inglefield challenged him in the most severe Manner, and told him he had had an improper Correspondence with his Wife, and said, he had seen him kiss her, which the Deponant repeatedly denied.’

   However ‘the Captain persisted that he had seen him, damned him, and stamped with his Foot at him [Webb] in a Passion, which so alarmed him that he was frightened into a false Confession.’

   John Webb later explained ‘that he wished to ease his Conscience of the Perjury he had been guilty of, by disavowing, in a public Court, what he had before said, and thereby make every Reparation in his Power, for the Injury he had done his Mistress’.
It’s not clear whether Ann forgave him.

 
The aftermath
The case collapsed because, among other reasons:

• John Inglewood could not supply any other evidence of Ann’s infidelity, and he proved to be a liar
• John Webb contradicted himself so much that it was impossible to ascertain what had happened  

 Both Ann and John lived on for over half a century, apart.  Their son Samuel founded a naval dynasty, including Arctic explorer Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield (pictured). 
John Webb’s next steps are not known.

John Webb’s problems and pleasures

It appears that racist attitudes towards John’s colour meant that the adultery could be painted as all the more reprehensible. 

   Even Ann’s own counsel, Dr Harris, thought the adultery claim was ‘improbable to the last degree’ on the grounds that Ann wouldn’t stoop so low. He said: ‘I won’t put myself to the pain of contrasting a poor black Slave to him [Inglewood, as a paragon of gentlemanly values].’ 

   In reality, it appears that the people who know John Webb were quite happy to ignore colour. Miss, the youngest Inglefield daughter, felt very affectionate towards him.

    And he was having a regular relationship with at least one of the servants, Elizabeth Wells, and with someone called Nanny, which may have Elizabeth's other name.
 Other shipmates and servants did not shun him on racial grounds (or certainly that’s not recorded). In other words, he was integrated when among his peers.

Black sailors were routinely included in shipboard life,
as the personable John Webb would have been.

Implications

This sorry, vitriolic saga reveals, accidentally, the life of one black male sailor. Who knows how typical it is of black servants in naval households. Certainly no other case like this has come to light.

   This particular young man seemed to be someone who operated either cannily or confusedly. He was not always honest: he’d stolen and sold off Inglewood’s coat.

    What’s interesting is that the alleged offence was only once blamed on his being black. A barrister thought that being black meant someone from a country where people had hot (passionate) constitutions.

    I hope someone does a thesis or book on John and the Inglewoods. It's ideal for a study of naval family life, and of race in the Navy.

Learning more

The full stories in participants' own words can be read on line via the British Library.

Ann Inglefield:
‘The arguments of counsel in the Ecclesiastical Court, in the cause of Inglefield: with the speech of Doctor Calvert, on the twenty-second of July, 1786, at giving judgement’, London, 1787.

‘Mrs. Inglefield's Justification, containing the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Court ... 1785, taken in short hand by W. Blanchard; with a preface and notes by Mrs. A. I.’  J. Sewell, London, 1787.

John Inglefield:
(et al) including Webb’s testimony: ‘New annals of gallantry : containing, complete collection of all the genuine letters which have passed between Captain Inglefield, and Mrs. Inglefield ; Signed with their respective Names, relative to a Charge brought by the Former against the Latter, for Partiality to her Black Servant. To Which Are Added, The Black's Affidavits, pro and con, and Mrs. Inglefield's also, upon this extraordinary Business. Likewise, The Letters of Mr. Mills, Man-Midwife, of Greenwich, relative to his Conduct since the Suspicion of this Strange Connection.’ R Randall, London, 1787.


‘Captain Inglefield's Vindication of his conduct: or, a reply to ... “Mrs. Inglefield's Justification.”  J. Murray, London, 1787.

When “Jack Tar” met “Tommy Atkins”: Black Men Serving as Both Sailors and Soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars

BY JOHN D ELLIS, M.A., GUEST CONTRIBUTOR


“Jack Tar” was the name given by the public to sailors of the Royal Navy and merchant service. “Tommy Atkins” was the generic name given to British soldiers.

“Jill Tar” and “Thomasina Atkins” only existed exceptionally. See the story of cross-dressed "William Brown" from Grenada: http://genderedseas.blogspot.com/2017/04/black-woman-cross-dressed-seafarer.html.

During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) neither “Jack” nor “Tommy” were homogenously white. At least one per cent of Royal Navy personnel were from countries with black populations. This amounted to 188 out of the total 18,000.

A black Jack Tar appears prominently in several paintings of the death of Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805, most notably that painted by Daniel Maclise. Pictured: detail from his Death of Nelson, (1859-1864) .

On Nelson’s Column in London (1843) a bas relief shows a black sailor. (Pictured below.)

Some of these images were shown in the exhibition Black Sailor's in Nelson's Navy, at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 2005: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-black-heroes-of-trafalgar-320576.html

Representations like this were, to some extent, British retrospective claims for moral authority over Napoleonic France (and the USA). These countries had a poorer record on opposing slavery than did Britain.

However, the inclusion of black figures was not an “artistic device” or “political correctness gone mad”. They were historically accurate inclusions of figures that the British public were familiar with.

Pictured: A black sailor (far left) listens as part of the team in this mess gossip session about warfare: "The sailor's description of a chase and capture", George Cruikshank, 1822.



OVERVIEW OF BLACK SERVICE PERSONNEL IN THE BRITISH FORCES

During the eighteenth century the fashion for exotic “Turkish music” resulted in British Army regiments enlisting black recruits to serve as bandsmen playing percussion instruments.

(Pictured: Notably tall black bandsmen of a Foot Guards regiment, St James's Palace c 1790.)

A few served as ordinary soldiers, rather than musicians, but not in British-raised regiments. The distinction between Crown and Colonial forces was clear. If you were in a Colonial regiment you would have a greater range of possible roles than just musician.

Black soldiers, sailors and marines fought, were wounded and died alongside their white peers during the American War of Independence, the Napoleonic Wars (a number fought at Waterloo in 1815), and in numerous “small wars” until the 1840s.

Most black recruits in British regiments enlisting in England came from the Caribbean, the United States, Canada and Africa. Others came from the East Indies.

The majority enlisted in London or Southern England, or in ports such as Bristol, Liverpool and Plymouth.

Some regiments were raised in the Caribbean and the black personnel felt proud of being so distinct from enslaved people. See the proud body language in this "Private of the West India Regiment", 1812. National Army Museum, https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/slaves-red-coats-west-india-regiment


Few of the black men who enlisted in Army regiments had nautical occupations. It might be that individuals with any discernible maritime experience, skill or related occupation preferred to join either the Royal Navy or merchant service.

Nevertheless, several black Royal Navy sailors and one former Royal Marine did serve in British regiments. This was usually after they had been at sea, not before.

This article seeks to draw attention to their presence using findings from pension records.


“A JOB FOR LIFE?”

Service in the Royal Navy was frequently temporary, as in the merchant fleet. By contrast enlistment in the Army was usually “for life”. This, and the opportunity to put down roots and raise a family, probably made the Army more attractive than naval life for some:

~~ William Prince, a labourer born in 1804 on the Isle of Providence in the West Indies, served in the Royal Navy between May 1824 and August 1825. (Initially on HMS Serapis and then on HMS Primrose).
He joined the Grenadier Guards in London in December 1825, where he was described as having a black complexion. Prince was 5’10” tall, making him a natural choice for ceremonial duties. As a guardsman in peace-time he would have expected to spend his service in London. (See a copy of his death certificate, below)

William Prince's ship, HMS Serapis, 34 years earlier: "Defence of Captain Pearson in his Majesty's Ship Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough Arm'd Ship Captain Piercy, against Paul Jones's Squadron, 23 Sept 1779", picture by Robert Dodd, 1815.

PENSIONS

Royal Navy service counted towards pension, and black soldiers made sure that it counted:

~~ Thomas Collins, born in Africa in 1792, described as having a black complexion, served in the Royal Navy then the Army.
• Surveillante (August to December 1804)
• Reynard (December 1804 to June 1805)
• Fortune (June 1805 to April 1806)
• Elk (April 1806 to December 1806)
• Mediator (December 1806 to July 1807)

Pictured: Thomas Collins' ship, a few years after his time aboard: "HMS Reynard in calm waters near a town", artist unknown, 1821, National Maritime Museum

Collins went on to serve in three regiments between 1811 and 1823, (the Grenadier Guards, 23rd Lancers and the 10th Hussars) and was described as having a black complexion. He was discharged from the 10th Hussars as a Private on a pension in March 1823, with 19 years service on his record.

~~ Perry Brookings, a 24 year old “man of colour” from Barbados, served as an Able Seaman on HMS Ranger (1810-1814), and the Tonnant (1814-1815). Service in the Ranger would have taken him to the Baltic. In the Tonnant, Admiral Cochrane’s flagship, he spent 1814-1815 fighting in "The War of 1812" (which actually went on till 1815).

Pictured: Perry Brookings' boss, Admiral Thomas Cochrane ( "the REAL Master and Commander") by James Ramsay, National Museums Scotland

Many sailors were redundant after the Napoleonic Wars ended in November 1815. Probably it was seen as appropriate to retain white sailors - "us" - in preference to black personnel, however loyal and valiant they had been. Some went into the Army, when they saw the writing on the wall.

Brookings enlisted in the 40th (2nd Somersetshire) Foot in Taunton, Somerset in August 1815.As a drummer he went to France, Australia and the East Indies. He was discharged on a pension in May 1833, having served for 23 years.





“A BAND OF BROTHERS” OR COLD ECONOMIC REALITY?

“Race” may have been a factor in establishing relationships between black servicemen. Some encouraged their pals to join up. They supported each other while in service.

However, the poor unemployment prospects in Civvy Street, in bleak winters, was probably a more persuasive recruiter:

~~ John Freeman of Barbados served as a Private in the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marines from January 1800 to December 1815.

In January 1816, only two days after leaving the Royal Marines, he was enlisted into the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Foot, still in Plymouth, one of Britain’s three major naval ports.
On enlistment Freeman was described as 31 years old, a labourer and a mulatto. He was introduced into the army by Private William Davis.

~~ William Davis was born in Boston, USA, a "labourer" with a "black complexion"). He had enlisted in the 43rd in Colchester in 1809 aged 21 years. It’s not known how or why Davis came to Essex from America; certainly he was not a servant and did not have a nautical occupation.

43rd Foot Regiment uniform button and badge of the kind John Freeman and William Davis wore



COMPARING THIS TO RACE IN THE SERVICES TODAY

As late as the twentieth century the RN took fewer black people than did the merchant fleet. The Army was the most inclusive service. Few people - of any colour - switched between Army and Royal Navy jobs.

In 2017 the Royal Navy/Royal Marines Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) personnel were at 3.6 percent. In the Army it was 11 per cent. (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2017)

Black personnel are still under-represented as officers. BAME people are just 2.4 per cent of all armed forces officers. In the Napoleonic Wars they were not allowed to be officers at all.

Women and men are now actively recruited in the Caribbean. The Services pride themselves on embracing diversity. The Army launched a BAME support network in 2017, which it is hoped will improve status equality: https://www.forces.net/news/army-launches-new-network-black-asian-and-minority-ethnic-soldiers

REFERENCES:

This piece originated in my talk entitled “Soldiers of African origin in British Army Regiments in England and Yorkshire, 1700s to 1840s”, given at What's Happening in Black British History? VIII conference, (University of Huddersfield, May 2018).

The initial research for this study is from my MA thesis: Ellis, JD. “The visual representation, role and origin of Black soldiers in British Army regiments during the early nineteenth century.” (Unpublished MA thesis, University of Nottingham, 2000).

Most of the sources used are from the National Archives (TNA). Most can be found online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk or are accessible via www.ancestry.co.uk or www.findmypast.co.uk

For Brookings see TNA WO 23/4 and WO 97/559. Probably died Chatham, 1836.
For Collins see: TNA WO 97/23, WO 97/32/61 and WO 25/299. Fate unknown.
For Davis see TNA WO 22/172, WO 23/48, WO 25/386 and WO 116. He was discharged at Kilmainham, Dublin, May 1821, on a pension. Believed to have died in Ireland in the 1860s.
For Freeman see TNA WO 25/386. Died August 1818, in the regimental hospital at Valencienne, France.
For Prince see TNA WO 25/1488. Grenadier Guards R155. Private Prince, died in November 1837. He was buried at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. His widow Sarah Prince was named as next of kin. For burial see: City of Westminster Archives Centre. Westminster Burials, 1837.

St Margaret's Church, Westminster